October/November and Thanksgiving

Bethel University

In October/November we hosted a group of students from Bethel University (Minnesota) who are spending a semester studying in Europe.  They were here for three weeks and brought a level of energy with them- it was a blessing to have them.

Thanksgiving

We had the blessed privilege of hosting a Thanksgiving retreat this past weekend for servicemen and women and their families from the U.S. Air Force base in Aviano, Italy and other missionary families from around Europe.  It was a wonderful time with lots of turkey.  In some ways I think Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday in that the focus is on the giving of thanks to God, on fellowship around the table, and yes, food, without the fast-paced commercialism of Christmas.  This was our last conference of the year at the Castle.  Things will resume with the European Pastor's Conference in January.  We've also been busy getting the buildings, vehicles, and grounds winterized.  No snow yet on the property but there is plenty of snow in the mountains.  Every season is beautiful here in its own way but the peaks are particularly beautiful when covered in snow.

CC Spittal

I have been leading worship regularly in German and English at Calvary Chapel Spittal.  I also had the opportunity to teach a few of the Wednesday evening services recently.

USA
I will be heading to the USA next week (December 7th) and will be there until mid January before heading back to Europe.  Hope to see you!

Snow in the Mountains

Yes, we've got snow...thankfully not at ground level at the Castle yet, but we woke up the other day to see the top of Mount Goldeck covered in snow.  The weather has cooled off after a very hot summer and the leaves are just beginning to turn.  We've been using the fireplaces to take the chill out of the Castle.  There's nothing as exhilarating as splitting firewood on a crisp autumn day.  We are beginning the Castle winterization process although we still have a few conferences to go before Christmas.

The Calvary Chapel missions conference was a wonderful week of fellowship as many folks pulled together to handle everything from meals to housekeeping to grounds to children's ministry (and many other things).  It's really the highlight of the year in terms of the Castle calendar.  We recently hosted a group of Japanese Christians from Horizon Chapel Tokyo.  They are traveling through Europe ministering to various Japanese congregations.  The pastor actually spoke at one of the early conferences at the Castle back in the late eighties.

CC Spittal

I had the opportunity to teach on a Sunday a few weeks back at CC Spittal.  I shared a message from Luke's Gospel chapter 1.  Still leading worship about twice a month which is a great blessing.  Some of you are no doubt aware of the current refugee crises in Europe.  We are tucked away a bit here off the beaten path in this corner of Austria so this region hasn't been directly affected by it.  That said, CC Spittal has decided to sponsor a family and they have moved in to a vacant apartment that the church owns.  Please pray that they will experience the love of Christ.

UK Visit

I will be taking a short vacation to The UK in mid October.  I will be spending about a week in York before heading south and flying out of London.  Also, I hope to be in the USA for Christmas.  As always, prayers are greatly appreciated.  May the Lord richly bless you!

God bless-

Paul

Summertime at the Castle

We have been running back to back conferences since early June so things have been quite busy (but good) here at the Castle.  It's neat to see how the Lord has brought together a team of people from a variety of backgrounds and places to serve the body of Christ at a Christian conference center in the Austrian alps.  We have hosted groups from Germany, Slovenia, Romania and other places.  This week we have a group from Calvary Chapel South London.  Next week we will be hosting the annual missions conference which focuses on the various Calvary Chapel ministries in Western Europe.  This is the biggest conference of the summer and probably the highlight of the year as over 300 missionaries will gather at the Castle to be refreshed and renewed in the Lord.  Please be praying for the speakers and attendees at this conference which runs from August 16-22.

A lot of the practical ministry (housekeeping, kitchen/dishes, grounds) is performed by Summer of Service students from the USA and various European countries.  I had the opportunity to take a group of these students on a day trip to Venice a few weeks ago which was a great blessing.  I will try to post some pictures soon.

Still actively involved in the worship ministry at Calvary Chapel Spittal.  I'm in the process of learning to sing German worship songs that I already know in English.  I will also be teaching on Sunday August 30 in Spittal so prayers are appreciated.  God bless until next time!

Spring Into Summer

My apologies for the delayed update.  It's been fairly busy here at the Castle since early spring with a steady flow of retreat groups and private guests passing through.  One of the biggest blessings is being able to pray with many different people.   I've been overseeing grounds and maintenance and with that has come the opportunity to work alongside of some great young people who are here to serve for the summer.  Here are some of the other highlights of what's been going on and what I've been doing:

City Chapel Klagenfurt

I was blessed with the opportunity to teach at City Chapel Klagenfurt this morning.  Klagenfurt is a city that is about an hour from the Castle with a population of about 90,000.  The church is an  international fellowship made up of Austrians and people from several other nations.  It was a wonderful time of fellowship with like-minded believers.  One of the beautiful things about the body of Christ is that we can have fellowship with people we've just met because we serve the same Lord.  John communicates this in a wonderful way in his first epistle:  "that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ" (1 Jn 1:3).  Praise God.

CC Spittal

I've also had the opportunity to rotate in on the worship schedule at Calvary Chapel Spittal.  Right now I am singing about half the songs in German and half in English.  YouTube videos and the Holy Spirit have been very helpful with the greater emphasis upon the latter.

Memorial Day Weekend

We had the privilege of hosting a group of soldiers and their families from the U.S. Army base at Grafenwohr, Germany over Memorial Day Weekend.  It was a special blessing for me because I had spent some time at the Grafenwohr base some years back while in the Army.  I had the opportunity to share a testimony and pray with some of the soldiers.  It was a nice way to spend Memorial Day weekend.

Budapest, Hungary

In early May I helped my friend and co-laborer Attila and his family move back to Budapest after serving at the Castle for five years.  I was able to spend the weekend and attend services at CC Budapest which was my home church in 2001-2002 while I was there teaching English.  Another great blessing to spend time with God's people in a great city.



So there you have it in a nutshell- It looks like the summer will be full and busy here so prayers are greatly appreciated.  May the Lord bless you-

Paul

Resurrection Sunday

Had a wonderful Easter service this morning at Calvary Chapel Spittal followed by a potluck lunch.  It's a wonderful thing to serve a risen Savior.  Some years back I was on an airplane returning to America after spending a year teaching English in Budapest.  I remember the tension and uncertainty that was in my heart as the plane began to make its initial descent into JFK/New York.  I was heading back to the fast paced American life and I didn't know where I was going to work, what car I was going to drive, or how the next chapter of life was going to unfold.  I remember praying and then opening my Bible to Matthew 28.  It's the passage where Mary Magdalene and the other Mary arrive at the tomb after the Sabbath to look for the body of Jesus.  Instead of finding Him, they are met by an angel who tells them to not be afraid  and that the Jesus whom they were seeking is risen.  The angel then tells them to quickly go tell His disciples that Jesus is "risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him" (Matt. 28:5-7).  As I was just sitting there in my seat at 30,000 feet in the airplane, the peace of Christ flooded my heart.  The Lord spoke three things to my heart through that passage:  First, that Jesus was alive; second, that He was going before me into my Galilee, and third, that I would seee Him there.  And that is how things worked out.  I got home and the resurrected Christ had indeed gone before me into my Galilee and I saw Him there.  He provided a car, a job, and a wonderful season of fresh ministry.  Those are three great things to remember today:  That Jesus is alive, that He goes before you into your Galilee, and that you will see Him there!  Praise God.

It's been a very busy month here at the Castle.  We've ben wrapping up a few construction projects in addition to sanding/refinishing the dining room floor and painting th dining room.  A group of Scottish youth from Scripture Union are arriving today for a week of skiing at the nearby Molltal Glacier.  Some of them are already here.  I've been blessed with the opportunity to lead our staff devotional time in the morning.  We just wrapped up a study in Ephesians and will probably head into the Gospel of John next.  Well, that's the update for now.  Thank you so much for your prayers!

Springtime in Austria

Well, here is proof that spring has arrived in Austria- just hope it doesn't snow on the beautiful flowers!  It's been relatively mild over here; lots of snow in late January/early February, but sunny and in the mid forties for the most part since then.

We had a Slovenian family here the other week on a ski retreat and they saw me carrying my guitar so one night they asked me to play some worship songs.  We gathered around the fireplace in one of the rooms at the castle and had a wonderful time singing before the Lord.  They asked me to play a lot of the old Maranatha songs- said they had learned them 20 years ago at the castle.  It was a great night of fellowship and worship!  I love it when the Lord does spontaneous things like that.

In other news, we've been working on several improvement projects and ongoing general maintenance (the castle is 102 years old) in preparation for the busy conference season.  I've had the opportunity to lead the staff devotional time in the morning which has been a great blessing.  We serve a wonderful God who is worthy of our worship and praise!  Thanks as always for your prayers.

A day off

It's Saturday morning and I'm sitting in the staff kitchen in the villa at the Castle in Austria.  Had the opportunity to lead our staff devotional time yesterday which was a great blessing.  The thing that the Lord put on my heart was that He sometimes brings an unexpected harvest in our lives.  In the fourth chapter of John's gospel we read that Jesus needed to go through Samaria.  Most of us are familiar with the account of Jesus and the woman at the well and how she comes to know her Messiah along with many others in the Samaritan village of Sychar.  The interesting thing is that Jesus' disciples are oblivious to what is going on.  They go off to buy food and return somewhere in the middle of the whole thing.  They were in a sense preoccupied with meeting their own physical needs.  Jesus takes the opportunity to turn this event into a teaching moment for His disciples, pointing out that while there may indeed be a material harvest in four months' time, the spiritual harvest is now.  The fields are white.  Jesus knew that there were people who would receive Him in Sychar and went there accordingly; for the disciples, it was an unexpected harvest.
     About five summers ago I was taking my evening walk on the boardwalk in Ocean City, New Jersey.  On this particular evening, I noticed a man doing boardwalk evangelism and I felt a strong leading of the Holy Spirit to go over to him.  I looked at my watch and it was getting late so instead of stopping I headed to my car.  As I walked on, I started arguing in my mind with the Lord that it was getting late and I had things to do the next day and that it was really inconvenient and that sort of thing.  The impression of the Spirit got stronger and stronger to the point that I knew if I didn't turn around I was going to miss a blessing.  So I turned around and headed back.  As I approached the man, he was sharing the gospel with a woman on one side and being heckled by another man on the other side.  I felt the Spirit tell me to just stand by the railing and pray, which I did.  After things died down, I went over and introduced myself to the man who was doing the evangelism.  He was a pastor from a church about 30 minutes away.  I stood with him the rest of that evening and for what turned into the next four summers as we shared the gospel and prayed with many young people.  I am not an evangelist.  I am one of the more reserved, introverted people that you might meet.  But God wanted to bring an unexpected harvest into my life.  I would have missed out on those four years of blessing had I just went to my car and not turned around that night.  I believe that the Lord wants to bring an unexpected harvest in all of our lives.  Jesus declares in Acts 1:8 that His followers "shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth".  What a glorious thing that is.  How wonderful it is when the true and the living God brings a harvest and allows us by His grace to partake in it.  Be open to the unexpected harvest that the Lord may have for you!

     I had mentioned that there are many practical things to do around here when there are no conferences.  This week we ripped out a sink room that will be converted into a bathroom.  As we ripped out the drywall, there were Scripture verses written all over on the framing.  This must have been done by some of the earlier Calvary work teams who got the Castle up and running in the early 90's.  It was kind of neat to see that- thinking about the fellowship in Christ that took place 25 years ago on a construction project and now we are enjoying rich fellowship in the same room so many years later doing similar work.  Also spent some time this week repairing chairs, splitting and hauling firewood, and yes, going to the local dump.  It's been very busy- nice to have a day off today!  Praise God from whom all blessings flow.  Thank you as always for your prayers!

Wednesday

It has been a whirlwind of activity since I arrived here; the European CC Pastors conference started on Monday but guests started arriving on Saturday so I pretty much hit the ground running.  Been doing everything from railway station pickups to washing dishes, shoveling snow, splitting firewood and whatever else is needed.  The fellowship has been wonderful amongst like-minded servants.  Things should slow down a bit after the weekend.  Thank you for your prayers!

Arrived

Praise God- arrived in Millsttatt about an hour ago; getting settled in.  My flight out of Newark was only delayed about 6 hours because of the snow forcast; not bad considering the number of flights that were canceled.  Smooth connections and traveling mercies in the little things (and big things) along the way.  The European pastor's conference starts on Monday night so the next few days things will be gearing up to prepare for that.  I am truly grateful for all of your prayers.

Dear friends,

Down to the last 100 hours before I get on a plane.  I am mostly finished with the important things at this point; please pray that I will be able to tie up any remaining loose ends in the next few days.  I'm excited about what God has and am thankful that He's going before me.  Praise Him!

God bless-

Paul